Please Help me Understand Gondor Stewardship and Kingship

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

If Arvedui, as King of Arnor, didn't impress the higher-ups of Gondor, a "chieftain" with no capital city, no fortress, and only the shadow of a fighting force, would have had no chance at the Kingship of Gondor.

Indeed; even Aragorn's claim was unpalatable to Denethor, who knew of his coming, calling him "last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity."

It might also be worth pointing out that as far as the Dúnedain were concerned, the King also held the effective role of "priest" (see Letter 156) and this lapsed with the kingship, not being restored until Aragorn took the throne. This was, according to that letter, because the Kings were the descendants of Lúthien, and thus of Melian, and thus of Eru Himself, in a sense.

As such it appears that while the Stewards held the political authority of the King, they did not hold the spiritual authority, which simply did not exist when the realm had no king. EDIT: I might be wrong about this! See the end of my next post.

(I think this also reflects what Professor Tolkien tells us about Denethor's attitude to the war, ie that he opposed Sauron purely for political rather than spiritual reasons.)